Introduction

Privacy, protection of personal data, trust, and transparency are central values shared among all members of the Smarco Project. As such, we consider the protection of your personal data and the preservation of your privacy as a top priority.

In this Notice, you will find a detailed presentation of the reasons and purposes for which we may collect and process your personal data through our activities, the ways we process it, what exactly processing entails, the principles of processing we apply, as well as for how long we retain your data and how we protect it. You will also be informed about who has access to your data, what rights you have on your data and how you may exercise them.

We encourage you to read our Privacy Notice thoroughly.

If you have any question do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail at info@smarco.eu

Persons under 16 of age

If you are under 16 years old, you should not disclose or otherwise share your personal data in any of our activities. If we realise that we have in any way collected personal data of a person under 16 years of age, it will be instantly and permanently deleted in a secure way.

Updating or amending the current Privacy Notice

1. Due to developments in business and/or technology we may need to change or amend the current Privacy Notice.
2. You will be adequately notified for any changes and/or amendments. In that case, your continued browsing of the Site indicates your unreserved acceptance of the new Privacy Notice, including any changes or modifications

NoticePersons under 16 years of age

There is no age limitation attached to the usage of the website. However, if you are under 16 years old, you should not disclose or otherwise share your personal data through the website.

If we realize that we have in anyway collected data of a person under 16 years of age, it will be instantly and permanently deleted in a secure way.

Who we are

SMARt COmmunities Skills Development in Europe (SMARCO) is a project funded under the Erasmus+ (101186291). The project aims to deliver targeted upskilling and reskilling programmes for smart city engineers, public sector professionals, and procurers. It combines technical modules focused on smart city engineering and digital public services with complementary non-technical modules in public procurement, civic engagement, and ethical innovation. Designed for both Higher Education and Vocational Education and Training contexts, the project advocates for learning mobility, micro-credentialing, and EU-wide recognition of skills.

Project starting date: February 2025

Project ending date: January 2029

The project consortium brings together 22 organisations. The list of project partners can be found here: https://smarco.eu/partners/

In this Privacy Notice, the term “SMARCO Consortium” encompasses all participants involved in the project action, including the Project Coordinator, Project Beneficiaries, Associated Partners, and Third Parties as defined in the Grant Agreement. Likewise, pronouns such as “we,” “us,” “our,” etc., refer to the Project Consortium.

The website https://smarco.eu/ (hereafter “the site”) is owned by the European DIGITAL SME Alliance and administrated by the Asociatia Cluj IT, on behalf of the SMARCO Consortium. Throughout this Privacy Notice “we”, “us”, “our” etc. refer to the SMARCO project.

The SMARCO project is located in Rue Marie Thérèse 21,1000 Brussels, Belgium.  You may contact the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, project coordinator via phone +32 28930235, or sending an e-mail to office@digitalsme.eu

For issues related to this Notice, please refer to the designated e-mail address.

You may find more information about the coordinator by visiting the website: digitalsme.eu 

The Site is hosted by Contabo in Germany. You can read their Privacy Statement here: https://contabo.com/en/legal/terms-and-conditions/

What type of personal data do we collect and process:

Generally

Personal Data

This is data that identifies you or can be used to identify you personally. It may include your name, email address, your employer, your country of residence and gender.

Such information is only collected directly from you if you voluntarily choose to submit it to us, using our contact form, our event registration form and/or our newsletter subscription form.

Non-Personal Data

Non-Personal Data includes information that cannot be used to identify you, such as demographic information regarding, for example, user IP addresses where they have been clipped or anonymised, browser types and other anonymous statistical data involving the use of our website.

This information is automatically collected via Cookies, according to your preferences, i.e. which Cookies you have allowed. Such details help us better understand your needs and preferences and improve the Site. Moreover, as the Site is dedicated to the dissemination of the SMARCO Project, such information allows us to assess the reach of our communication policy and our market.

In detail:

If you use the Contact Form

If you choose to contact us using our Contact Form, we will collect and process the personal data you disclose by filling in the form.

More specifically, we will collect your e-mail address, first and last name, as well as your phone number if you choose to disclose, and any personal data you may choose to include in your message.

If you subscribe to our Newsletter

If you choose to subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated with status and the developments regarding the SMARCO Project, we will collect your first and last name and e-mail address you will choose to disclose in the Newsletter Subscription Form.

If you use our Event Registration Form

If you choose to participate in one of our SMARCO Project-related events, you will need to register using our Event Registration Form. We will collect your first and last name, your e-mail address, your employer [required], as well as your country of residence and/or your gender [optional].
However, according to the type of the event, we may need to collect additional pieces of personal data, to ensure that the material of the event is tailored to the participants, to adapt the event to the needs of the audience or to provide you access to the event venue, etc.

Why we collect and how we process your personal data

If you use the Contact Form in our website

We collect and process your first and last name and e-mail address to contact you and respond to your message.

Any additional information, including personal data, you may choose to share with us through the Contact Form is only collected and processed for the purposes of communicating with you and responding to your message.

If you subscribe to our Newsletter

We collect and process your first and last name and e-mail address to send you our newsletter with updates regarding the status and progress of the SMARCO Project.

If you use our Event Registration Form

We collect and process your first and last name, e-mail address and employer to register you for the event, verify the registrants, contact you on issues related to the event you have registered in, send you material/content related to the event and/or ask for your feedback.

Any additional personal data we may ask you to disclose, such as your country of residence, and/or your gender, will be collected and processes, if necessary, required and appropriate according to the event, in order for us to ensure that the event will reflect the needs and meet the expectations of the registered audience as well as to comply with the project reporting criteria.

If you give us your consent, we will also retain your e-mail address to contact you about future events and/or activities related to the PROJECT NAME Project.

Who has access to your personal data, and why

We follow a purpose-specific data-access plan to reduce the diffusion of personal data. Hence, according to the purpose for which we have collected your data we limit the access only to those absolutely necessary.  All the members of our team are privacy aware, and mindful to protect and preserve your privacy and data protection.

If you use the Contact Form in our website

In principle, only the Site’s Owner has access to the data disclosed through the Contact Form. In case your message requires input from a specific member of the SMARCO Project Consortium, the content of your message will be safely transferred to the relevant Consortium member.

If you subscribe to our Newsletter

Only the SMARCO Project Consortium has access to the e-mail addresses collected through the Newsletter Subscription Form.

If you use our Event Registration Form

The SMARCO Project Consortium will have access to the information, including personal data, collected through the Event Registration Form. If it is deemed necessary for presenters or keynote speakers to have details regarding the composition of the participants, any demographics will be shared with them without any personal data that will allow your direct identification. 

For how long we retain your data

We apply a purpose-specific policy to define the period of time for which we process and store your data.

If you use the Contact Form on our website

After our communication is completed, your personal data will not be reused unless in relation to your original request. Upon completion of the project and reporting period, all data will be permanently erased in a secure way.

If you subscribed to our Newsletter

We will process and store your data for as long as the SMARCO project has a newsletter. If, for some reason, we stop having a newsletter, we shall inform our subscribers and permanently erase your data in a secure way. Also, if you choose at any point to unsubscribe, we will promptly erase your data in a secure way.

If you use our Event Registration Form

Unless we have your explicit consent to retain your contact details to inform you for future events, all data will be permanently erased in a secure way upon completion of the project and reporting period.

What type of personal data do we collect and process:

The rights you have on your personal data

The collection and processing of your personal data through the Site is always in line with our legal obligations, in compliance with the GDPR 2016/679, and in accordance to our own values and principles which aim to preserve your privacy and protect your personal data.  Each time you are invited to share any piece of your personal data, you will be offered sufficient information and justifications about the reasons why we are asking you to disclose your data, the purposes for their collection and process and details about how they will be processed and used. We will seek to acquire your explicit and informed consent, each time required, prior to collecting your data.

Your personal data will be only processed for the specific reasons and purposes explained in this Notice and in accordance to the principles and safeguards explained here. If you are not sure you clearly understand something in this Notice, you are encouraged to contact us.

The GDPR provides you with some specific rights concerning your personal data, which you can freely exercise whenever you choose. More specifically you have the right:

• to be always informed about the reasons and purposes for the collection and processing of your data, the time limits of processing and storing of your data, the principles of processing, those involved in collection and processing, as well as asking and obtaining any relevant information. If you do not feel we have provided you with enough information do not hesitate to contact us asking for more details.
• to access the data we have about you. You may ask us to disclose which data we have about you, how and when we obtained it, and receive a copy.
• to rectify the data we have about you. In case a piece of your personal data has changed while we retain it, you may ask us to update it so as to ensure that the data we have about you is always accurate, updated and suitable for the reasons/purposes for which you have shared it with us,
• to request a copy of your data in a convenient/ appropriate format to be transferred to a third party or used for other purposes (data portability)
• to request us to erase your data,
• to object to further processing and ask us to refrain from furtherly processing your data,
• to revoke your consent,
• to file an official/formal complaint to the competent authorities. If you have any concerns about possible interference in your privacy or misuse of your personal data on our behalf, you may contact us (for contact details see below). We hope that we can answer any questions you may have about how we process your personal data and resolve any issue related to your personal data and the protection of your privacy. However, if there are unresolved issues that concern you, or you would rather contacting the competent authorities directly, you also have the right to complain to the relevant data protection authorities.

The rights related to automatic decision making and profiling are not applicable in this case, as we are not using automated procedures and/or profiling via similar means.

You may freely exercise your rights by sending an e-mail to info@smarco.eu

Last updated June 2025.